Yukari Nakatani

Breatter: a simulation of living presence with breath that corresponds to utterances

We propose an expressive breathing method for a robot in accordance with its utterances. The synchronized expression is expected as a new physical modality to become like a living presence. Especially when the human-robot distance is near in intimate communications, anthropomorphized presences should naturally imitate activities of living beings, such as breathing. A stuffed-toy robot contains a speaker and a fan motor in its head to make simultaneous expressions of breathing and vocal sounds. The strength of the breath is determined by the total volume and power in the high frequency band.Categories and Subject DescriptorsH.5 [Information Interfaces and Presentation]: MiscellaneousGeneral TermsDesign

Involuntary expression of embodied robot adopting goose bumps

In this paper, we propose an involuntary expression of embodied robots by adopting goose bumps. The goose bumps are caused by not only external stimuli such as cold temperature but also the internal state of the robot such as fear. For more natural anthropomorphism, the combination of involuntary and voluntary expressions should enable realistic animacy and life-like agency. The bumps on the robots skin are generated by changing lengths of thin rods from each hole. The lengths are controlled by a servo motor which pulls nylon strings connected to the base of thin rods.Categories and Subject DescriptorsH.5 [Information Interfaces and Presentation]: MiscellaneousGeneral TermsDesign